{"id":10196,"date":"2016-11-10T07:44:34","date_gmt":"2016-11-10T15:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=10196"},"modified":"2016-11-10T07:44:34","modified_gmt":"2016-11-10T15:44:34","slug":"ash-heap-theology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/ash-heap-theology\/","title":{"rendered":"Ash heap Theology"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019m holding my copy of <em>Who Needs Theology?<\/em> in one hand and my newspaper in my other hand today [yes, I\u2019m part of the proud few who still subscribe to a hard copy newspaper], and I\u2019m flummoxed over what to say, how to respond to our country\u2019s choice of president. Clearly, we who have critically reflected on the life and work of Jesus, on the transformation of life and lives, and on the future of God\u2019s people\u2014clearly, we have missed the opportunity to translate our understanding of the good news of God into a way that can be reflected on by the person in the pews on either side of the aisle. It is evident to me today that versions of folk theology continue to dominate those who identify as Christians, even twenty years after Grenz\u2019 and Olson\u2019s book, <em>Who Needs Theology?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Here are some thoughts and questions I\u2019ve reflected on today:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I think the election results coming so closely on the heels of reading Grenz\u2019 and Olsen\u2019s book has placed me in a dangerous situation of responding to the text too quickly in light of the events, without space to sit, mourn, and reflect. I confess that I\u2019m having a hard time separating out and considering constructive, contextual theology without considering yesterday\u2019s events. I would like to sit in the ashes for a bit before determining the extent to which the readings in my left and right hands intersect.<\/li>\n<li>Rich vs. poor. Urban vs. rural. White vs. people of color. Good vs. bad. Left vs. right. Folk vs. academic. Our theology must be much more nuanced than these dichotomies.<\/li>\n<li>Because of my own reading of scripture, my theology of human identity, I cannot quickly dismiss those who chose the Republican nominee as people who are \u201cless than\u201d, especially less than me as a Christian (although I am beyond angry at them right now and struggle to reconcile the apparent xenophobia with the words of Jesus).<\/li>\n<li>It seems dangerous to offer a spectrum model of potential theological extremes with \u201cme\u201d or potentially those like me in the middle, balanced between heady academic theology and folk theology of the masses (26). It seems presumptuous to suggest that I am exactly where I should be (\u201cjust right\u201d), whereas those who process life\u2019s questions differently are \u201ctoo hot\u201d or \u201ctoo cold.\u201d Those whom I might identify as \u201cfolk theologians\u201d would be (and are) extremely resentful at being considered \u201cthoughtless\u201d or not thinkers. And yet\u2026 is it still a useful model?<\/li>\n<li>Does \u201cacademic theology\u201d = liberal? Does \u201cfolk theology\u201d = conservative? Too simplistic?<\/li>\n<li>I like the premise of this book because it affirms for me what I value and strive for: reflecting and articulating the God-centered life and beliefs that we share as followers of Jesus, to glorify God (69). Question\u2014which one of the followers of Jesus wouldn\u2019t want to suggest that they are doing just that (whether or not a person is or isn\u2019t pursuing that way of thinking isn\u2019t my point; but do they assume they are?)<\/li>\n<li>Grenz and Olsen \u201cfear that Christianity may be in danger of becoming a mere \u2018folk religion,\u2019 relegated to realms of sheer subjectivity and emptied of public credibility, unless lay Christians and ministers catch the vision for an intellectually satisfying Christian belief system\u201d (10). Twenty years after writing this book, I wonder how they would assess this fear today. I would suggest that most Christians aren\u2019t looking for an \u201cintellectually satisfying Christian belief system\u201d but something that affirms how they <em>already<\/em> Do people really want to ask \u201cwhat does the affirmation of Jesus\u2019 full humanity have to do with how I conduct myself on Monday morning?\u201d (45), or do they prefer to say, \u201cI conduct myself this way, therefore, Jesus must fit this particular characteristic.\u201d Most of us want affirmation, not conviction.<a href=\"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Phoenix-rising.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10194 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Phoenix-rising-300x176.jpg\" alt=\"Phoenix rising\" width=\"300\" height=\"176\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>\u201cThe goal of theology is to help us be the believing people of God in the world today\u201d (94). I will continue to pursue that, hopefully humbly, in my own limited context and filtered reading of Scripture (91), yet seeking to <em>listen<\/em> to the way others\u2019 have filtered it as well. Grenz &amp; Olsen suggest that the limitation set upon us to pursue theology in our own context \u201cmay actually be what ultimately drives theology and gives it richness\u201d (91). Perhaps. But I would counter that richness can only truly be gained when a multi-directional sharing of contextual theologies occurs; that is, when I listen to the Holy Spirit helping you read Scripture in your context, it helps broaden my own understanding of God within my context, and vice versa. As a missionary, that is part of my responsibility; not only to contextualize theology for the people in the pews of my own context, but to be a bridge between various contexts, offering opportunities for each to see the richness and broadness of the God we worship, which can only be discovered when multiple contextual theologies are shared.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Phoenix-song.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10195 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Phoenix-song-277x300.jpg\" alt=\"Phoenix song\" width=\"214\" height=\"232\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Beloved fellow theologians, it is good for us to lament our current situation. But then, like a phoenix, we need to rise from our ash heap, roll up our sleeves, and sing out the good news (136-138).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019m holding my copy of Who Needs Theology? in one hand and my newspaper in my other hand today [yes, I\u2019m part of the proud few who still subscribe to a hard copy newspaper], and I\u2019m flummoxed over what to say, how to respond to our country\u2019s choice of president. Clearly, we who have critically [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[198,756,693,757,758,128],"class_list":["post-10196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-grenz","tag-lament","tag-olsen","tag-ornithology","tag-politics","tag-theology","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10196\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}